Latest News from Al Soucyhttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/
Latest News from Al SoucyenCopyright 2018 Ulitzer.com Ulitzer.comMon, 19 Nov 2018 19:38:48 ESThttp://backend.userland.com/rss360Standardizing and Centralizing Data Assetshttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3110560
I was asked by Mr. Peter Hastings (NH DoIT Commissioner) to document the benefits and activities behind the Standardization and Centralization Initiative (SACI). This initiative concerns the standardization of the software configuration management tool, defect tracking tool and standardizing production compiles across the enterprise of state government. In addition this includes the storage of assets for disaster recovery purposes, securing and controlling state source data assets, intellectual property and mission-critical data assets across the enterprise of state government.
This article will cover how the State of NH is working to save money in efficiencies related to standardizing and centralizing state data assets. Every state wants to save money for its citizens and stakeholders but saving money in state government can be a very challenging task. The fact that every agency in state government is basically its own separate entity makes this even more difficult. Initiatives of this size and scope can be complicated to implement if agencies don’t understand the value and don’t feel the need to cooperate or collaborate to achieve success and understand that the savings is in their best interest. In today’s economy no one wants to spend any money to achieve any savings to begin with because they don’t have the money to make any capital investments.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3110560" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 11:00:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3110560http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3110560#feedbackAn End-to-End Solutionhttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3046471
I was asked by Mr. Peter Hastings (NH DoIT Commissioner) about my understanding and knowledge of "End to End Solutions". I have witnessed these solutions before but I wanted to find a good definition. So, I began my research and found this definition: One supplier or one company that can provide all of your hardware and software needs in a suite of tools that meets all of the customers requirements and no other suppliers need to be involved. I think this is a good one and makes sense to me.
I'm sure there are many other definitions that exist and this is simplistic in nature but I see this as a baseline definition. One could certainly branch off of this definition to encompass a variety of explanations but let’s stick with this one for this article.
This idea has been around for sometime now and slowly but surely as the years go on it seems to go away and pop up and go away and pop up, etc... I have been watching and observing for a long time as well and witnessed the process and implementation of these suites over the years and have developed my own opinions about all encompassing tools. So, this has come up before <p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3046471" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Fri, 11 Apr 2014 09:45:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3046471http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/3046471#feedbackCloud Development Using SCM 12.5http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/2901361
Recently, I was asked by Mr. Peter Hastings (NH DoIT Commissioner) to take a look at cloud development concepts and see if there was any benefit for our development teams across the enterprise. After some investigation I could see that if all users/developers were on one server that contained all the licenses for the tool and the assets were centralized, and the SCM tool was standardized, the state could save money in various ways on activities related to software development and transform state government with more status accounting and visibility into software development not only for state developers but contractors as well.
I met with Commissioner Hastings and explained that developers would have less of a learning curve from department to department if the tool was standardized. The only thing the developer would have to learn is the application to develop code. The tool would already be known because SCM supports all the development platforms used at the state today. The state develops in Java, multiple versions of Visual Studio, COBOL for legacy applications, multiple versions of PowerBuilder, Visual Basic, etc. The list goes on with every agency that gets implemented in the enterprise as there are new tools I was unaware of and new ways of using SCM integrated with them.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/2901361" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Sat, 21 Dec 2013 12:00:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/2901361http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/2901361#feedbackSoftware Inventory Control Systemshttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1974135
This article will focus on Software Inventory Control Systems (SICS). Recently, I was asked by Bill Rogers (NH DoIT Commissioner) and Peter Hastings (NH DoIT Director) to take a look at SICS, investigate them and provide a recommendation. When I started this research I knew nothing about SICS. I didn’t understand their value. I ate, slept, and breathed these tools for a period of time so that I could understand their value. I got a good education from some smart folks: individuals in DoIT who were familiar with these products, research from the Internet, testimonials from other users on products, many demos and I inquired into what other states were using.
Presently, I am the administrator of SCM AllFusion Harvest. SCM AllFusion Harvest is a process-based Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool for managing application source code. I manage 181 applications housed in SCM AllFusion Harvest and support 122 users using the product. The development tools we currently use are PowerBuilder PBV8, PBV11; Visual Studio 2003, 2005, 2008; Eclipse and Java.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1974135" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:45:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1974135http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1974135#feedbackHarvest R7 – R12: Performing an Upgrade Process http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1661643
This article will focus on the upgrade process from AllFusion Harvest Change Manager R7.1 to CA Software Change Manager (SCM) R12.0.2. I am writing this article because I recently went through this process and felt it would be beneficial to share this experience with other users in the field. We ran into some surprises and I wanted other users to be able to use this article as a checklist of activities to be aware of when performing this upgrade process.
This process can be pretty straightforward if the upgrade only concerns upgrading the repository data alone. However, there is a lot of overhead in this process if you are using Forms, Attachments to Forms, User Defined Processes (UDPs), Email notifications, Encryption of passwords, Enforce Package Bind Flags, Verify Package Dependency Flags, Canned Reports or Customized reports. The project that I worked on to upgrade used many of these processes, which made the upgrade progress more labor-intensive as a result. The team that was experiencing this upgrade used Harvest very aggressively and took advantage of the power and robustness of this tool, which in turn enhanced the information available to the team related to this project in a central repository.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1661643" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 07:15:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1661643http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1661643#feedbackPowerBuilder Build Process with SCM R12http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1626500
This article will focus on the PowerBuilder Build Process using E. Crane Computing product PowerGen with CA Software Change Manager (SCM) R12.0.2. I am writing this article because we recently upgraded to SCM R12 and it was a good time to visit our PowerBuilder build process and see what has changed. I felt it would be beneficial to share this process with other users in the field. I want users to be able to use this article as a checklist of activities to be aware of when performing the PowerBuilder build process with the latest version of Harvest SCM R12 and PowerGen.
Every Software Configuration Management tool is different in terms of functionality and navigation; however, they all have common threads of functionality that are consistent with all Software Configuration Management tools. Common activities include checking out, checking in, adding new files, deleting existing files, obsoleting files and loading an initial baseline of source code. The way these tasks are achieved is of course different from tool to tool but many of the SCM tools perform these basic activities. I prefer SCM tools that have a relational database behind them for security, disaster recovery, retrieval and storage capability.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1626500" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 07:00:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1626500http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1626500#feedbackManage Your Source Data Assets . . .http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1491633
Every Software Configuration Management tool is different in terms of functionality; however, they all have common threads of functionality that are consistent with all Software Configuration Management tools. Common activities include checking out, checking in, adding files, deleting files, obsoleting files and loading an initial baseline. The way these tasks are achieved is of course different from tool to tool but many of the SCM tools perform these basic activities.
This article will focus on a product called Rational Application Developer and the integration with SCM AllFusion Harvest R12.0.2 using the CA SCM Eclipse plug-in.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1491633" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:15:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1491633http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1491633#feedbackWireframeSketcher: An Eclipse Plug-Inhttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1232784
This article will focus on a product called WireframeSketcher developed by Peter Severin. WireframeSketcher allows you to quickly create wireframes and mockups right within the Eclipse IDE. Wireframes are put together by laying out pre-drawn widgets using a familiar drag-and-drop interface. There are widgets to represent buttons, combos, trees, tables and many more. While dragging widgets conveniently snaps to nearby edges, which makes the layout task quick and efficient.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1232784" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:00:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1232784http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1232784#feedbackEmbracing Web Technologieshttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1219785
This article focuses on a newly released version control system, PowerVCS, by E. Crane Computing. I am a fan of this product because this company makes great, easy-to-use products right out of the box. Many may have gathered from previous articles that I am not a fan of products that have too much overhead. By overhead I’m referring to the fact that they are too scientific for their own good. The easier the tool is to use, the more likely that folks will use it, especially if it integrates seamlessly with other products. PowerVCS falls into the low overhead product category for me. This is a very easy product to use.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1219785" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:00:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1219785http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1219785#feedbackEclipse Europa 3.3.2 Integration with SCM Toolshttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1078272
Presently, I am the administrator of SCM AllFusion Harvest. SCM AllFusion Harvest is a process-based Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool for managing application source code. I manage 121 applications housed in SCM AllFusion Harvest and support 185 users using the product. The development tools we currently use are PowerBuilder PBV8, PBV11; Visual Studio 2003, 2005, 2008; and Java.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1078272" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1078272http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1078272#feedbackVisual Studio 2008 Integration with SCM Toolshttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1039518
This article describes the integration between the SCM AllFusion Harvest Version Control Interface (VCI) and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for version control. It will show how to make the necessary connections using the interface, demonstrate check-outs and check-ins, how to delete files in proper order using SCM tools, demonstrate file comparison and how to exclude files, add new files, load the initial baseline via the Visual Studio IDE and promote the Change Request (CR) Package in SCM AllFusion Harvest through the entire lifecycle leaving the initial baseline footprint across all SCM AllFusion Harvest states.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1039518" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1039518http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/1039518#feedbackPowerBuilder Initial Baseline Load Processhttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/842416
Presently, I am the administrator of AllFusion Harvest for the State of New Hampshire. I manage 100 applications housed in AllFusion Harvest and support 180 developers using the product. The development tools we currently use are PowerBuilder v8 and v11, Visual Studio 2003 and 2005, Java, and Visual Basic. As the software configuration manager, I provide the administration of the source code management tools.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/842416" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:30:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/842416http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/842416#feedbackHarPB Tool Reviewhttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/609593
HarPB is a specialized utility for checking PowerBuilder source objects in and out of AllFusion Harvest. It handles the special requirements of checking objects out to PowerBuilder Libraries (PBLs) and checking objects in from PBLs. These operations are non-standard to most source control systems, because the PBL is a proprietary binary format of PowerBuilder.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/609593" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:45:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/609593http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/609593#feedbackPBDJ Product Review: AllFusion Harvest Change Managerhttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/511557
I began my career at RCA Aerospace and Defense in 1983 and worked at MITRE Corp., BAE Systems, and the State of NH. I worked in the defense field performing software configuration management (SCM) and release engineering activities from 1983-1996. In July of 1996, I began working for the State of NH, Department of Health and Human Services, performing the software configuration management role. I am the administrator of AllFusion Harvest.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/511557" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:00:00 ESThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/511557http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/511557#feedbackPowerBuilder Product Review: PowerGen by E. Crane Computinghttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/252275
We discovered PowerGen when we were looking for a command line utility for importing objects into PowerBuilder. At the time (PowerBuilder V5.0) we were struggling with a source control system whose SCC-API interface was having all kinds of trouble with PowerBuilder (as most source control systems did at the time). As a result we cobbled together our own check-in/check-out utility using PowerGen's command line operations.<p><a href="http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/252275" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Fri, 27 Oct 2006 20:00:00 EDThttp://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/252275http://alsoucy.sys-con.com/node/252275#feedback